Film Love: Martin Scorsese: Portrait Films

If you think you’ve seen everything ever directed by Martin Scorsese, then you might want to head out to this special screening of two obscure documentaries the director made in the 1970s: Italianamerican and American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince. These films are currently unavailable on video and extremely hard to see.

Italianamerican (1974) has been described by Scorsese as “the best film I ever made.” It’s a documentary portrait of his parents, Charles and Catherine, both of whom have had numerous cameos in their son’s more famous films. The documentary is both an intimate look at the Scorsese family and a commentary on the immigrant experience in America.

(On a personal note, I remember seeing Italianamerican way back in film school about 20 years ago, and while much of the film is lost in the fog of my memory, I do remember it having a very intense verite style with Scorsese having an incredibly strong presence in it, directing the film while being in front of the camera as a subject.)

American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978) is a profile of Scorsese’s close friend Steven who rattles off an endless string of stories and anecdotes about growing up Jewish in the ’50s, working as a road manager for Neil Diamond, being addicted to heroin and more. According to Film Love, some of Steven’s monologues were copied directly by Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction.